Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, by Mary Roach

My friend Pat got this book a few years ago as a sort of graduation present from our physics department faculty (I got World Without End, which I have yet to crack open), which caused a lot of snickering amongst all present, because no matter how old you are, you are twelve when it comes to sex. This is a fact.

I have no idea if he read it or how he liked it, but the fact that I remember him getting it, coupled with the existence on the internets of a general love for Mary Roach, convinced me it would be an excellent companion for my 10.5+ hour solo road trip up to Virginia this past weekend. I was absolutely not disappointed.

To start off, Roach's writing style is lovely. She knows her stuff, and often how ridiculous her stuff is, and she puts it across in a very conversational style with tangents and footnotes and pauses to think about what she's just written galore. And the narrator of this book, who I believe I've heard on another book at some point, picks up that conversational quality quite easily — oftentimes you can hear her smiling or grimacing or making that face you make when something absolutely mortifies you to even think about. I don't even know what it's called, but I heard it!

Then, of course, there's the subject matter. I have to admit that while I was listening I wasn't sure I would retain a lot of the facts, what with the driving and paying attention to the road and whatnot, but after I was done I was easily able to relay to my husband the pertinent info. Like that there are men who masturbate by putting things up their urethras (ouch?). Or that Marie Bonaparte (related to that one Bonaparte guy) had her clitoris surgically moved closer to her vagina in an attempt to make her sex better (OUCH, and also EUCCHH). Oh, and that if you get your dog neutered, you can get him prosthetic testicles to make him feel better about himself (eh?). And so much more.

What I think I loved about this book most was that unlike certain other non-fiction books I've listened to, Bonk doesn't have an agenda other than entertaining you and providing you with endless trivia to share at family gatherings. Some bits seemed to drag on a little longer than strictly necessary, but I never felt like Roach was trying to beat one concept or another into my head.

Recommendation: This is for, you know, people who are interested in sex. I would probably not give this to teenagers, lest they get ideas that they didn't already have. Like that urethra thing. :shudder:

Rating: 9/10
(A to Z Challenge)

Please Ignore Vera Dietz, by A.S. King

If you know me, you know why I got interested in this book in the first place. :) And then I started seeing rave reviews of it everywhere, which made me want it even more — but so did a lot of people, clearly, because it took forever for this to get to the library for me! Totally worth it.

So our dear Vera is a high-school kid dealing with the fact that her best friend is dead. No, worse, that her best friend ditched her for losers and then up and died. No, worse... well, that would be spoiling it a bit too much.

That's pretty much the whole plot. Girl loses best friend, deals with it, doles out the backstory in bits and pieces. It's a decently compelling plot. But what I liked most about the book was the writing — King knows her way around an amusing sentence and definitely knows her way around an odd tangent. The book is mostly written from Vera's point of view, but every once in a while her dad breaks in, or her dead friend Charlie, or this building called the Pagoda that really doesn't want you throwing paper airplanes. That's littering. Oh, and Vera's dad tosses in a flow chart here and there and seriously, Ken Dietz's Face Your Shit Flow Chart needs to be enlarged and prominently displayed on my wall. Everyone's wall, really.

Recommendation: For fans of the tangent and imperfect/rebellious teenagers.

Rating: 8/10
(A to Z Challenge)

Will Grayson, Will Grayson, by John Green and David Levithan

Okay, so. We already know that I adore John Green. I laughed and cried through Looking for Alaska, I was delightfully baffled by An Abundance of Katherines and his story in Let it Snow, and Paper Towns had me itching for a road trip.

And then Will Grayson, Will Grayson came out, like, heading toward a YEAR ago, and I didn't read it. I said, "Oh, I should pick that up," but I didn't. Partly it came out right before my YA class so those books took precedence, partly I was worried that I wouldn't like the co-written aspect of the book, but mostly, I was afraid of Tiny Cooper.

See, almost every review I saw of Will Grayson, Will Grayson mentioned this same bit that's right in the beginning of the book: "Tiny Cooper is not the world's gayest person, and he is not the world's largest person, but I believe he may be the world's largest person who is really, really gay, and also the world's gayest person who is really, really large." And I have to give kudos to the awesomeness of the writing there, BUT.

I know Tiny Cooper. I know SEVERAL Tiny Coopers. I have had my fill of Tiny Cooper, he gets annoying after a while. I did not want to have to deal with Tiny Cooper ever again. So I did not pick up this book.

BUT then, I was on the internet and I was reminded of National Alaska Young Day (which is spoilery if you haven't read the book), and I was like, hey, maybe I should re-read Looking for Alaska on NAYD, but I was also at the library and they had a copy of Will Grayson, Will Grayson and so I said, "FINE, fate. I will read this darn book."

And I did. And I LOVED IT. I seriously have not cackled gleefully so many times in such a short span of time, and the book was just perfect and wonderful and definitely what I needed after a holiday season devoid of awesome books.

So forget Tiny Cooper. He's there, certainly, and he's large and homosexual and he has written a large homosexual musical that is all about him and how large and homosexual he is, really. But the book is really actually about the Will Graysons, of which there are two and of which one does not use capitals often and is more accurately a will grayson. Will Grayson is your average high school kid, only slightly more neurotic; will grayson is your average high school kid, only slightly more depressed. Will is actively avoiding relationships, will is in a wonderful online relationship that is about to go all IRL. Neither of these goes quite the way either of them planned it, of course, because that's how life is, and their random meeting at a porn store in Chicago (yes, really) makes things go even slightly crazier.

And so the book is of course about relationships in the romantic sense, but it is also very much about friendships, whether between people who like each other or hate each other or like like each other or tolerate each other. And it's about how those relationships change when circumstances change, and how two people can see the exact same event and interpret it completely differently. And it's also about honesty and how it's an excellent thing when used at the right time and not put off too long, which is the main reason that I want to get everyone I know to read this book.

Also, Tiny Cooper is highly amusing, probably largely (hah) because I don't have to be friends with him. Or pick his nose.

So basically, yes, I still love John Green, and also I may need to go out and get David Levithan's entire backlist because he shares much of Green's writing sensibility, at least in this book. And I know it's premature, but this may be a contender for Best Book I Will Read All Year. True story.

Recommendation: For those who love John Green, and David Levithan, and any of the similar YA writers who are wonderfully sarcastic and biting and amusing but also very spot on about everything.

Rating: 10/10
(A to Z Challenge)

Five Red Herrings, by Dorothy Sayers

I found this book in Mac's Backs when I was up in Cleveland for New Year's, and since I've never seen any other Sayers novels there (and because I still have some store credit there), I snapped it up right quick! It even took precedence over my library book for in-flight reading material, because I liked Gaudy Night so much I wanted my Sayers fix pronto!

This was, for the most part, a very good idea, especially the plane part, because I might not have been able to focus on this book were it not for lack of anything else to do. The story is interesting, don't get me wrong, but Sayers buries the whole thing in so much train timetable nonsense and sometimes indecipherable Scottish dialect that more than once I found myself a bit confused by something but too overwhelmed to go back and figure it out. So I may be missing any subtler parts of this mystery.

But basically, you've got a dude. A belligerent dude, who is not terribly well liked by most of his friends. And so then he dies, seemingly accidentally, and that's all well and good until one Lord Peter Wimsey is like, "Oh, ho, but this one piece of evidence that would totally make this an accident is missing!" and Dorothy Sayers is all, "But I'm not gonna tell you what that evidence is because where's the fun in that?" except she actually writes, "(Here Lord Peter Wimsey told the Sergeant what he was to look for and why, but as the intelligent reader will readily supply these details for himself, they are omitted from this page.)" Which is both sexist and unnecessary, because I sort of knew what she was talking about but it didn't help me figure out whodunnit any faster, so whatever.

Ahem. Anyway, dude-face is dead, and it's an artist what killed him, and in particular one of six potential artists who had the motive and means to do it. Interestingly, most of these artists have gone missing, so it takes rather longer than it probably should to round them all up, figure out their stories, and solve the case. And even then, the case takes a while to solve, because it gets all Clue up in Scotland. Or, I should probably say that Clue gets all Five Red Herrings up in Mr. Boddy's mansion, but I saw Clue first and I'm sticking with it. What I mean to say is that several people offer theories of what might have happened, and then Wimsey is all, "Nuh-uh, you're wrong and I'm right like Sherlock Holmes!" and then, and I am not kidding about this, Wimsey stages a real-time reenactment of the crime that is, again, totally unnecessary but which is in fact delightful.

So. Minus points for the incredibly dense writing, but super-awesome plus points for lines like, "'You shut up,' said Wimsey, 'You're dead, sir.'" and, "'Now, corpse, it's time I packed you into the car.'" Though I admit that if anyone had ever said, "To make a long story short," I would have had to shout, "TOO LATE!"

Recommendation: For fans of classic-type mysteries who are not adverse to a little translation in their reading or a little math (for the timetables).

Rating: 8/10, mostly for the delightful ending
(A to Z Challenge, Vintage Mystery Challenge, What's in a Name Challenge)

The Secret History, by Donna Tartt

I've had this book finished for a while, but I've been having trouble figuring out what to say about it. My friend Monica recommended it to me several times over the last year because of my love for The Likeness, which Tana French has said is partly based on The Secret History. I can definitely see the basis there, but I think I was expecting too much The Likeness and just couldn't get behind Tartt's story.

Tartt starts with the end, with our hero Richard Papen remembering the time he helped to kill one of his college friends, whose name is — well, was — Bunny. Lovely, yes? Papen then zooms himself back in time to tell us all about how he ended up at a small rich-kid college in Vermont, where he stumbled into a very strange learning situation, with basically one professor and five classmates studying ancient Greek. He recalls breaking slowly into the tight-knit group of five, learning all of their idiosyncrasies, and then of course helping in the murder of one of them.

The Secret History necessarily focuses hugely on the interpersonal dramas between Richard and the group and all permutations of members in the group, which is a bit slow, but it makes up the pace a bit when Bunny's death is being investigated and the suspense kicks up. But then, and this is what really killed the book for me, that intensity dies down and we're back to the interpersonal shenanigans. These shenanigans are certainly interesting, and I was curious to know what would happen, but after a while I just felt like I didn't really care anymore if it meant I had to trudge through so many more pages.

I'm still not sure if I liked this book, though I can certainly say I'm glad it exists if it sparked Tana French's writing! I think perhaps this will be another of those books that grows on me with time.

Recommendation: For the interpersonal melodrama crowd, and also anyone who gets a kick out of boarding-school-style novels.

Rating: 7/10
(A to Z Challenge, Chunkster Challenge)

Musing Mondays — New Year's Books

Today's Musing Mondays question is... "How many books did you read in 2010? If you had a reading goal, did you meet it? What books are you most looking forward to reading for 2011 (either new, OR ones that have sat on your shelves for a while)?"

As I mentioned yesterday, I read 123 books in 2010, which is more than I thought I would read — I had figured on 100, maybe, but I ended up with about half of my reading being children's and YA, which of course tends to read more quickly. So I did pretty well for myself!

For this year, I am looking forward to FINALLY reading a few books with the TBR Challenge. I have to admit that I don't really know what's coming out this year in books except for Jasper Fforde's One of Our Thursdays is Missing, which is coming out... soon-ish. I don't really keep track of these things, I just note them when they happen and go from there!

2010 Wrap-up

I haven't been doing much (well, much for me) reading or blogging lately, so I kind of forgot about doing a 2010 recap before, you know, 2011, so I'm just going to grab this meme from the internets and go with it. One thing to add, though, is that I read 123 books this past year (nice, right?), which is fewer than 2009 and also full of many more kids and YA books, but I did enjoy most of what I read!

Best book of 2010?
Numbers-wise, my favorite books were two non-fiction books about language (The Word Snoop and Biting the Wax Tadpole), and a re-read (In the Woods), and that seems to hold pretty true even after a year of thinking about it. I will also throw in When You Reach Me, which was absolutely adorable and came so close to getting that 10.

Worst book of 2010?
I really quite disliked Thirteen Reasons Why, which I listened to, probably primarily because of the voice actors.

Most Disappointing Book of 2010?
The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag. I quite enjoyed Flavia in The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie but found this sequel to drag on far too much.

Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2010?
American Born Chinese. I had read other graphic novels before but thought they weren't terribly good; this one was brilliant and got me started on a new adventure in reading!

Book you recommended to people most in 2010?
Mostly I've been recommending books I've read in previous years, but of 2010 books I'd have to say Mr. Peanut since I've already foisted it upon my book group!

Best series you discovered in 2010?
Hmm. I quite liked the first in the new Shades of Grey series, but I'm also just kind of in love with Jasper Fforde. A completely new-to-me series that I will have to continue is Confessions of Georgia Nicholson, which was brilliantly hilarious.

Favorite new authors you discovered in 2010?
Bill Bryson! I have got to find one of his travelogues, it can only be better. Aaaand Sarah Waters, on whom I have a total girl-crush.

Most hilarious read of 2010?
Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging, hands down.

Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2010?
If I Stay — I listened to this on my commute, so not technically "unputdownable," but I was very much looking forward to getting back into the car while this was playing.

Favorite cover of a book you read in 2010?
Mr. Peanut. Very awesome.

Book you can't believe you waited UNTIL 2010 to finally read?
Fingersmith. I must learn not to resist the internets!